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Testimonials

“Cocha Cashu is one of the most extraordinary wild places I’ve ever been, but the research station is also a place of adventure, camaraderie and community… I was on the cat project in 1984. Eye shine was everywhere at night on my cat-tracking shift. On the trail, a tiny shining necklace in the middle of the trail was a spider, unblinking red eyes coiling down a stem was a snake, unblinking eyes close to the ground belonged to an amphibian, probably a Bufo, and blinking eyes waist-high or lower revealed a mammal, maybe a deer or a cat. As I paddled out on the lake, silver eyes on the shore meant a jaguar, red eyes gliding just above the water were caiman.

One day we snared an angry, snarling jaguar. As we darted it, I remember feeling the fear and adrenaline as if I were prey. But holding the jaguar’s head on my lap as we measured and collared it, protecting its eyes because ketamine blocks the blink reflex, I felt more honored than any person alive…. We shared a family-style dinner every night. It was a special time of community, when stories were told of the day’s research. The questions raised, the knowledge shared, were amazing conversations. There are many memories as clear today as if 26 years hadn’t intervened, stories I tell my young son and his friends, who -- wide-eyed -- can’t get enough of Cocha Cashu lore.”

Jeanne Panek

“From the many and varied wild areas in Peru I have been, I must say the forest surrounding Cocha Cashu is one of the most pristine and richest in biodiversity. It is a place most people want to come back to, including myself. Scientific research should be promoted in this area since the results will be very important for tropical science, and most, if not all researchers will remember the experience for years to come and feel the effort was worth it.”